• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2005

Purpose : Recurrent urinary tract Infection(UTI) in primary vesicoureteral reflux(VUR) may lead to serious renal scarring, a major cause of childhood hypertension and end-stage renal disease. To prevent recurrent UTI, low-dose long--term antibiotic prophylaxis has been recommended. However, recurrent UTI still develops during antibiotic prophylaxis, the efficacy of which is now being disputed. The emergence of resistant bacteria has also raised concerns. To evaluate the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis, we investigated recurrent UTI during prophylactic antibiotic use in children with primary VUR Materials : The incidence and risk factors of recurrent UTI were retrospectively evaluated in ninety-one children with primary VUR on trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole(TMP/SMX) prophylafis during the year following their index febri]e UTI. Results : Recurrent UTI occurred in 31.9%(29/91) children and comprised 0.32 episodes/patient year. Febrile UTI was 0.26 episode/patient year and afebrile UTI was 0.07 episodes/patient year. The recurrent rate of UTI in male patients with phimosis was 37.2%(19/51), which was significantly higher than in males without phimosis 0%(0/5)(P=0.025). In the logistic regression analysis for recurrent UTI, renal scar was the significant risk factor for recurrent UTI [RR 3.8(95% CI 1.0-14.1) P=0.04]. For other well-known risk factors such as sex, age, degree of VUR, APN, and voiding dysfunction, the differences were not significant. Conclusion : TMP/SMX prophylaxis did not prevent recurrent UTI in children with primary VUR. Phimosis and renal scars were the risk factors for recurrent UTI but the grade of primary VUR was not. In VUR without phlmosis and renal scar, a randomized controlled study without antibiotic prophylaxis is required. (J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 2005;9:46-55)

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2017

Purpose During Brain SPECT study, critical factor for proper study with $^{99m}Tc-ECD$ or $^{99m}Tc-HMPAO$ is one of the important causes to patent's movement. It causes both improper diagnosis and examination failure. In this study, we evaluated the effect of Dynamic Continuous Mode Acquisition compared to Step and Shoot Mode to raise efficacy and reject the data set with movement, as well as, be reconstructed in certain criteria. Materials and Methods Deluxe Jaszczak phantom and Hoffman 3D Brain phantom were used to find proper standard data set and exact time. Step and Shoot Mode and Dynamic Continuous Mode Acquisition were performed with SymbiaT16. Firstly, Deluxe Jaszczak phantom was filled with $Na^{99m}TcO_4$ 370 MBq and obtained in 60 minutes to check spatial resolution compared with Step and Shoot Mode and Dynamic Continuous Mode. The second, the Hoffman 3D Phantom filled with $Na^{99m}TcO_4$ 74 MBq was acquired for 15 Frame/minutes to evaluate visual assessment and quantification. Finally, in the Deluxe Jaszczak phantom, Spheres and Rods were measured by MI Apps program as well as, checking counts with the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum and hypothalamus parts was performed in the Hoffman 3D Brain Phantom. Results In Brain SPECT Study, using Dynamic Continuous Mode rather than current Step and Shoot Mode, we can do the reading using the 20 to 50 % of the acquired image, and during the test if the patient moves, we can remove unneeded image to reduce the rate of restudy and reinjection. Conclusion Dynamic Continuous Mode in Brain study condition enhances effects compared to Step and Shoot Mode. And also is powerful method to reduce reacquisition rate caused by patient movement. The findings further indicate that it suggest rejection limit to maintain clinical value with certain reconstruction factors compared with Tomo data set. Further examination to improve spatial resolution, SPECT/CT should be the answer for that.

• Journal of The Korean Ophthalmological Society
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• v.59 no.12
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• pp.1166-1172
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• 2018

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy, and identify predictors of success of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients after adjusting for intraocular pressure (IOP) changes in the untreated fellow eye. Methods: This retrospective chart review included 52 eyes of 52 OAG patients who underwent SLT in one eye and were followed-up for at least 1 year after the procedure. The IOP was measured before the treatment, at 1, 2, and 3 months posttreatment, and every 3 months thereafter. To account for the possible influence of IOP fluctuations on laser outcomes, post-laser IOP values of the treated eye of each patient were also analyzed, after adjusting for IOP changes in the untreated fellow eye. Success was defined as an IOP decrease ${\geq}20%$ of the pretreatment IOP. The success rate was determined based on Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and factors predictive of success were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazard model. Results: The mean pretreatment IOP was $23.17{\pm}6.96mmHg$. The mean IOP reduction was $5.59{\pm}4.78mmHg$ (29.7%) and the success rate was 65.4% at 1 year. The adjusted mean IOP reduction was $4.70{\pm}4.67mmHg$ (23.9%) and the adjusted success rate was 53.9%. Pretreatment IOP was associated with SLT success; the higher the pretreatment IOP, the greater the post-laser IOP reduction (p = 0.025). Age and mean deviation index did not show a significant association with SLT success (p = 0.066 and p = 0.464, respectively). Conclusions: SLT is a safe and effective alternative method of IOP reduction in OAG patients. Herein, pretreatment IOP was the only factor significantly associated with SLT success. IOP fluctuations of the untreated eye should be considered for a better understanding of the impact of treatment.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2022

Purpose: Tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil (S-1) and capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) are standard adjuvant chemotherapies (ACs) administered after gastrectomy to patients with stage II or III gastric cancer. However, the efficacy of AC in elderly patients remains unclear. The objective of this retrospective multicenter cohort study was to compare the efficacies of S-1 and CAPOX AC in patients aged ≥70 years. Materials and Methods: Nine hundred eighty-three patients who were treated with AC using S-1 (768 patients) or CAPOX (215 patients) were enrolled in this study. Each patient underwent AC after curative gastrectomy for stage II or III gastric cancer at one of 27 hospitals in the Republic of Korea between January 2012 and December 2013. Relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed according to AC regimen and age group. Results: Of the 983 patients, 254 (25.8%) were elderly. This group had a similar RFS (P=0.099) but significantly poorer OS (p=0.003) compared with the non-elderly group. Subgroup analysis of the non-elderly group revealed no AC-associated differences in survival. Subgroup analysis of the elderly group revealed significantly better survival in the S-1 group than in the CAPOX group (RFS, P<0.001; OS, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that the CAPOX regimen was an independent poor prognostic factor for RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.891; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.072-3.333; P=0.028) and OS (HR, 2.970; 95% CI, 1.550-5.692; P=0.001). Conclusions: This multicenter observational cohort study found significant differences in RFS and OS between S-1 and CAPOX AC among patients with gastric cancer aged ≥70 years.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.82-91
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• 2022

Recently, several in vitro studies have reported antiviral activity of agents of systemic acquired resistance against plant virus infection, but the approach has not been applied in a wide range of agricultural fields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect of the exogenous application of salicylic acid (SA), chitosan (CH), or eugenol (EG) in tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) infection of greenhouse-grown tomato plants. In vitro, the initial time of symptom was observed in TYLCV-infected plants (VP) of the resistant cultivar 'Superdotaerang' at 12 days post inoculation (dpi) after application of antiviral agents. At 32 dpi, the disease rate of TYLCV in the CHT+VP (0.1% chitosan and virus infected control) treated plants was 87.5%, lower than that of the other treatment. However, the virus content in the CHT+VP treated plants was higher than those of the other treatments, and SA, EG, and CH did not show significant effect on plant height or shoot and root fresh weight. Our results from summer-cultivated greenhouse-grown tomatoes show that none of the tested agents had an inhibitory activity on viral infection or yield of tomato 'Dotaerangsola'cultivar. In contrast, all treated 'TY Giants' cultivars that possessed TYLCV resistance genes Ty-1 and Ty-3a did not show typical symptoms and the virus content was remarkably lower than those in the TYLCV treated plants in 'Superdotaerang'. The results of this research indicated that the planting of resistant tomato cultivars was effective method instead of using SA, EG, and CH (known as resistance-inducing factors for control) of TYLCV in the field.

• 한국체육학회지인문사회과학편
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.867-876
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• 2015

This study was intended to closely examine an effect that the level of physically challenged person's participation in community sports had on positive psychological capital. In order to accomplish the purpose of study, data on 212 physically challenged persons who lived in B city and participated in community sports were analyzed. Korean version of positive psychological capital created by Taehong Lim (2014) through the reconstruction of scales developed by Luthans, Youssef and Avolio(2007) and Sangwan Jeon and Jonghun Yang's (2009) level of participation in community sports was reconstructed through modification·improvement as measurement instrument. An exploratory factor analysis, reliability test, paired difference test, and multiple regression analysis was carried out by using SPSS 18.0 program for data processing. First, It was shown that there was a significant difference in positive psychological capital according to gender, age, and disability grade among physically challenged persons' socio-demographic characteristics. Second, it was shown that, among sub-variables (period, frequency and intensity) of level of physically challenged persons' participation in community sports, the frequency of participation and the intensity of participation had a significant effect on self efficacy. On the other hand, it was shown that the period of participation didn't have a significant effect. Third, it was shown that the frequency of participation had a significant effect on optimism. On the other hand, it was shown that the period of participation and the intensity of participation didn't have a significant effect. Fourth, it was shown that the frequency of participation and the intensity of participation had a significant effect on hope. On the other hand, it was shown that no significant effect was produced on the period of participation. Fifth, it was shown that the frequency of participation had a significant effect on resilience. On the other hand, it was shown that no significant effect was produced on the period of participation and the intensity of participation. Sixth, it was shown that the frequency of participation and the intensity of participation had a significant effect on positive psychological capital. And it was shown that no significant effect was produced on the period of participation.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.761-779
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the quality of life of elderly people from the ecological perspective. Specifically, this study attempts to compare the relative contributions of the variables from the individual system, microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem on the quality of life of the elderly people. The subjects for this study consisted of 443 elderly over 60 years old in Daegu city, Gyeongsang-do, and Chungchung-do areas. The data were collected randomly by interviews with a structured questionnaire, and analyzed by frequencies, means, ANOVA, and hierarchial regression method. The major-findings of this study were as follows: 1. The quality of life of the elderly consisted of four factors; physical, economic, psychological, and social factors. The highest satisfaction score for the quality of life was found in psychological factors, The global satisfaction score for the quality of life was found to be relatively high. 2. Out of the individual factors influencing the quality of life of the elderly, the economic status of the respondent was found to be the most important. Out of the microsystemic factors, the most important factors were found to be the intimacy with the spouse and with the children. Out of the mesosysystemic factors, the degree of the social participation of the elderly was found to be the most significant. However, none of the macrosystemic factors were found to be important in influencing the quality of life of the elderly people. 3. The relative significances of the variables contributing to the quality of life of the elderly were analyzed using a hierarchical regression technique. It was found that there was no significant factor in social background and mesosystemic variables. On the other hand, the degree of the self-efficacy and the level of the economic status from the individual factors, and the intimacy with the spouse and the children from microsystemic factors were found to be very significant in contributing the quality of life of the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.12 no.5_spc
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• pp.133-147
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• 2006

Korean society is rapidly becoming an ageing society. The Korean may have to live longer than did their parents. Increasing life expectancy and changing social structure, Korean people are getting interested in quality of life, and well-being is becoming a matter of concern. And, the Korean is fully aware of the importance of health for well-being or good life. This concern about health may bring about specific behaviors related to health. Although health care expenditures of Korea are currently smaller than those of other developed countries, it is continuously increasing. Large portion of increased amount of health care expenditures is to spend for disease prevention and expansion of long-term care facilities. Constructs of well-being of the Korean, not living in western culture, may be different from those of people living in western society. Health is not top-ranked to importance for quality of life in previous studies. It does not mean health isn't determinant factor for good life or well-being. Health is an essential element for well-being. It has been proved in several researches which examined poor quality of life caused by certain diseases and management of health-related quality of life. Some theories relate to health-seeking behaviors suggested the health belief or the attitude toward health, intention to do health behavior, perceived behavioral control, and self efficacy as important factors which could predict health-related behaviors. With getting older, people decline in physical and physiological functions and become vulnerable to chronic diseases. Quality of life depends on how to adjust to these changes in senescence. Social supports, especially supports from offspring, are very important to quality of life in senescence, because supports from offspring have influence on pride of the older, they may be afraid of disclose the conflict with their offspring. Avoiding self-disclosure exclude other source of social supports and harm individual's health, therefore psychological intervention is needed to. Increasing life expectancy of the Korean, Korean government has to provide numerous long-term care facilities as well as psychosocial supports. The Korean, so far, does not recognize that psychologist could render great service to promoting individual or community health and improving individual's quality of life. It is highly expected that psychologists take actively interested and involve in health related to quality of life.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.443-452
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• 2024

This study aimed to examine the influence of 3,6-anhydroxygalactose (L-AHG) on the pro-inflammatory M1 polarization and pro-inflammatory responses observed in the RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cell line following stimulation with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). L-AHG exhibited a significant and dose-dependent inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, a hallmark of M1 polarization, and subsequent NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the LPS-induced upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which drives the production of prostaglandin E2, an inflammatory mediator, was also inhibited by L-AHG. L-AHG did not affect the LPS-triggered Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated pro-inflammatory signaling pathway, which culminated in the activation of transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1). However, it was observed to inhibit the generation of reactive oxugen species (ROS) in a dose-dependent manner, as well as the TAK1-driven activation of JNK and p38 MAPK. Given that the active p38 MAPK is known to contribute to the assembly of active nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, which catalyzes the intracellular generation of pro-inflammatory ROS in LPS-stimulated macrophages, the dose-dependent reduction in the LPS-induced ROS generation by L-AHG may be mainly due to the prevention of TAK1-driven activation of p38 MAPK. Together, these results demonstrate that the L-AHG-mediated inhibition of the TAK1-JNK/p38 MAPK activation phase of the pro-inflammatory signaling pathway in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells by L-AHG represents a promising mechanism for suppressing M1 polarization and pro-inflammatory responses in macrophages.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.37-48
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• 2024

Songla (Usnea diffracta Vain.) is one of the lichens belonging to the genus Usnea, and pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and cardiovascular protection have been reported in previous studies, but its efficacy in skin and hair is not well known. In this study, the effect of Usnea diffracta extract (UDE) on anti-aging and dermal papilla cell proliferation was verified in vitro. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the UDE significantly reduced the expression of MMP-1 and the activity of MAPKs (ERK, p38, JNK) and AP-1 (c-Fos, c-Jun), which were increased by UVA in HDFn. In addition, the UDE significantly increased the proliferation of HFDPC and significantly increased the mRNA expression of VEGF and KGF, which are hair growth factors. Accordingly, the phosphorylation of ERK/CREB involved in hair proliferation and expression of growth factors was increased in a concentration-dependent manner. The main component represented by the main peak was separated and purified using Prep LC by concentrating the UDE, which was confirmed as diffractaic acid through NMR and Mess analysis. Isolated diffractaic acid significantly reduced the expression of MMP-1 increased by UVA in HDFn and increased the proliferation of HFDPC in a concentration-dependent manner. The result suggest that UDE proved its usability as a natural cosmetic material with anti-aging and dermal papilla cell activation effects.